A new critical perspective on the relationship between text and tact in 20th- and 21st-century literature and theory

The intimate links between the page and the skin have been explored by writers for centuries. Yet despite the current interest in the surface of the body, the relationship between touching and writing remains neglected. Drawing on new debates in deconstruction and psychoanalysis, this book provides an original and timely intervention in the field. Exploring insights from Jacques Derrida and Hélène Cixous, and through close readings of work by writers such as Anne Carson, Siri Hustvedt and Michael Ondaatje, Tactile Poetics investigates the law of tact that always interrupts contact, and examines the different ways that literary texts work to 'touch' their readers.

Key Features

Conceptualises the relationship between touching and writing through a theory of 'tactile poetics'

Offers in-depth analysis of a range of literary genres including short fiction, poetry, autobiography, correspondence and the novel

About the Author

Sarah Jackson is Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in English at Nottingham Trent University and Programme Leader MA in Creative
Writing at Nottingham Trent University. She is the editor of Oxford Literary Review, 33.2 (2011), a special issue on deconstruction
and poetry, and the author of two books of poetry, Pelt (Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 2012, longlisted for the Guardian First Book
Award) and Milk (Brighton: Pighog Press, 2008, shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award).

Reviews

Tactile Poetics is an original and compelling study. It is also, in its singularly gentle manner, a work of pressing importance. Interweaving lucid and thought-provoking expositions of Anzieu, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Nancy and others, with deft and inventive readings of an adventurous range of recent fictional and poetic texts, Jackson’s book shows how the subject of touch is at the heart of contemporary writing and theory.

- Professor Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex

Tactile Poetics takes excellent care of the intellectual and imaginative possibilities of its subject. Jackson's lucid, subtle engagement with touch and associated topics combines a poet's sensitivity, scholar's rigour and thinker's curiosity. Her book belongs alongside classic studies by Anzieu, Connor and Nancy.